Now let us consider the various deities individually. It will be convenient to begin with those whom we know to have been worshipped in Norway or Iceland. There is no question that Thor was known not only in Sweden and Denmark but also in Germany and England, under the forms Donar and Thunor respectively. Apart from local nomenclature and the use of his name (as a translation of dies Iouis) in the fifth day of the week, there are a few direct references to worship of him—e.g. in the inscription on a brooch found at Nordendorf in Bavaria and in a Low German renunciation formula for the use of converts. His cult goes back without doubt to the Heroic Age and probably much earlier, though he is apparently not mentioned by Tacitus.
The cult of Frey was believed to have come from Sweden, as we have seen. How old it was there we do not know; but there is some reason for believing that it was not originally confined to that country. The Slavonic inhabitants of eastern Holstein worshipped a deity of the same name[595]; and the presumption is that they found the cult in existence when they occupied that district—not later than the seventh century. But the name Yngvi has a much longer history and can be traced in various records back to the time of Tacitus. From what is said of Ing in the Anglo-Saxon Runic Poem it is clear that he was a perfectly definite, though doubtless mythical, personality[596].
We have already noticed that Niörðr can be traced back to a goddess Nerthus, who was worshipped in the first century by the Angli and other peoples in the south-western part of the Baltic. When the change of sex took place we do not know. The feminine form of the deity is probably preserved in Freyia, who under the name Skialf seems to have her roots in early Swedish tradition.
With Othin we shall have to deal presently. There is abundant evidence that he was known not only in Sweden and Denmark but also in England and at least the greater part of Germany. In the two latter countries he bore the names Woden and Wodan respectively. Even in Tacitus' time he appears (under the name Mercurius) as the chief god.
Balder's history is not so clear. From Saxo's account (p. [70] ff.) there can be little doubt that he was known in Denmark. The question whether he was recognised in Germany[597] depends practically upon the interpretation of the (second) Merseburg charm, to which we shall have to refer again shortly.
Now let us take the deities who are known to us only from the mythology. Both Frigg and Týr were certainly known in England and Germany. Their names are preserved in the sixth and third days of the week. Frigg (Frea) also figures, as the wife of Wodan, in the Langobardic story quoted above (p. [115]), while Týr (Mars) is mentioned more than once by Tacitus.
Of Ullr traces are preserved in local nomenclature both in Denmark and Sweden. From Saxo (p. [81] f.) it appears that he was remembered in Danish tradition. Gefion's association with Sjælland (cf. p. [400]) is recorded by Bragi Boddason, the earliest Scandinavian poet of whom anything has been preserved. Both her name and that of Iðun can be traced in local nomenclature in the same island[598].
There remain of course a large number of less important deities who cannot be traced outside the mythology of the Edda. Many scholars hold that these were invented by Norwegian or Icelandic poets during the Viking Age; but it is at least equally possible that our inability to trace them elsewhere is due in part to the extreme poverty of our information. One piece of evidence which tells in favour of the latter view is that the Merseburg charm preserves the name of one of the least prominent of these deities—Fulla, the handmaid of Frigg. The fact too that these poets made no attempt to incorporate Thórgerðr in the pantheon seems to show that in their time[599] the theological system of the Edda was more or less crystallised. At all events it is clear that, with the exception of Thórgerðr and Irpa, all the deities whose worship is attested were known beyond Norway, and that most of them can be traced back to the Heroic Age or still earlier times.
There is a further reason for doubting whether the theology of the Edda was a product of late Norwegian poetry. Perhaps the most striking conception in this theology is that of the 'world-tree,' Yggdrasill's Ash. I have pointed out elsewhere[600] that this conception is largely derived from a tree-sanctuary and that a fairly close parallel to it is furnished by the description of the Upsala sanctuary given in Adam of Bremen's history (IV 26 f.) and the annexed scholia. Similar sanctuaries may have existed in Norway; but we have no record of one which possessed the same characteristics, and it is extremely improbable that any of them ever attained an importance comparable with that possessed by the Swedish capital. Again, there are features in the picture of the 'world-tree'—I would allude especially to the presence of snakes—for which no parallels can be found in any Scandinavian sanctuary of which we have record. Yet such features do occur in the tree-sanctuaries of more primitive peoples, especially among the Prussians and Lithuanians. From this it appears to me highly probable that the conception of the world-tree dates from a comparatively early period. The idea of universality which it embodied cannot be held to prove the contrary; for this idea was possessed also by the Irminsul[601], the sacred pillar of the Old Saxons. We have no reason for doubting that a philosophical conception such as this was possible before the Viking Age.
I am inclined therefore to think that the theological system of the Edda in its main features dates from times anterior to the Viking Age. From earlier sources—the works of Tacitus and various German and English authorities—we know altogether the names of about a score of deities, half of whom belong to either sex. It is probable however that a much larger number have been lost. At all events there can be no doubt that the religion of the Heroic Age was a highly developed polytheism. Procopius (Goth. II 15), speaking of the inhabitants of 'Thule' (Scandinavia), says that they worship many gods and demons (δαίμονας), both in the heavens and in the atmosphere, in the earth and in the sea, besides certain other spirits (δαιμόνια) which are said to be in the waters of springs and rivers. Again, in the preceding chapter he states that the Heruli of central Europe worshipped a great crowd of gods (πολύν τινα νομίζοντες θεῶν ὅμιλον), whom they thought it right to appease even with human sacrifices. Procopius' evidence is important not only because it is almost contemporary but also because he clearly distinguishes between the religion of the Teutonic peoples and that of the Slavs. Of the latter he says (ib. III 14) that "they consider one god, the creator of the lightning, to have sole control over all things, and they sacrifice to him oxen and offerings of all kinds.... Yet they also reverence rivers and nymphs and some other spirits (δαιμόνια), and sacrifice to them all, using divination in these sacrifices." It will be seen that this type of religion is not very far removed from what we find among the Thor-worshippers of Iceland.